Golf, barbecues and restaurant patios coming soon, say Ontario doctors calling for outdoor spaces to open
Hamilton's COVID numbers are dropping at the same time Ontario's doctors are urging the province to open outdoor recreational facilities like golf courses, tennis courts and basketball nets.
The Ontario Medical Association's (OMA) call to keep the stay-at-home order but ease restrictions outdoors is also backed by a key leader of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table.
We really need to focus on having outdoor space available for people," Dr. Peter Juni, scientific director of the table, said Wednesday at an OMA briefing. We need a stay-at-home-and-outdoors order ... The point here really is ... outdoor activities are on average roughly 20 times safer than indoor activities."
The OMA provided hope that current public health measures are working and the province is on its way to a more open summer - raising the prospect of barbecues with friends, beach volleyball and restaurant patios.
Our summer will probably be relatively OK," said Juni. Remember the last summer, this summer could be similar."
But as Ontario reported 2,320 new cases Wednesday - including 125 in Hamilton - the OMA said numbers are still too high to lift the order May 20.
Hamilton still has 1,008 active cases of COVID which is nearly half of the high of 1,988 reported April 24, but four times what it was in mid-February.
This third lockdown was a tough one ... a bit of a punch in the gut," said Dr. Kumanan Wilson, specialist in general internal medicine at the Ottawa Hospital and CEO of CANImmunize. We're starting to see the benefits ... but we still have a bit of a ways to go to safely reopen ... We want to do it right this time."
Hamilton - like the province - is seeing key COVID metrics decrease, including the average number of new cases per day which was down to 129 on May 10. The high was 180 on April 20.
During the same period, the weekly rate per 100,000 population has dropped to 150 from a record of 211.
However, both numbers remain high overall - close to peak levels of the second wave.
The stay-at-home order in Ontario has worked," said Dr. Vinita Dubey a Toronto associate medical officer of health. We've gone up the curve and are coming down now. We're seeing great improvements but we're still not quite there yet. Our case rate ... is still higher than the peak that we had in wave two so we're going need to see those numbers come down."
The number of tests coming back positive in Hamilton has been at record high levels for 10 days, sitting at 11.9 per cent Wednesday, which is well above the province's 6.4 per cent.
The city reported three COVID deaths Wednesday including two seniors in their 70s. Of the city's 372 pandemic deaths, 85 per cent have been age 70 or over.
The third death was a resident in their 50s, bringing the toll for this age group to seven. In total, 10 Hamiltonians age 59 and younger have died in the pandemic.
In addition, Hamilton's hospitals are still caring for high numbers of COVID patients and nearly half of them are critically ill. Of the 135 COVID patients hospitalized, 62 are in the ICU.
No patients have been transferred to Hamilton from the Greater Toronto Area in nearly one week. However, two have been sent to Burlington and three to Niagara since May 6.
In total, 268 GTA patients have been transferred to area hospitals since Jan. 11 with 153 of them coming to Hamilton.
Part of the reason for the high number of hospitalizations is that variants have made up nearly three-quarters of Hamilton's COVID cases since April. The vast majority are B.1.1.7, which was first found in the United Kingdom. In addition, the city has 18 confirmed cases of P.1, first identified in Brazil, and 11 confirmed infections of B.1.351, first found in South Africa.
The variants spread faster and cause more severe illness, which is why the OMA is trying to keep the stay-at-home order in place. The province has not announced yet what it intends to do.
I would hope we keep indoor spaces restricted as it currently is," said Juni. We're anxious to see a ... reopening of outdoor spaces relatively soon - doing that safely, and then wait (to see) what's happening. If that all goes well, which is likely to be the case, then case numbers will continue to go down, people will be more at ease and we can then discuss next steps when numbers are perhaps at 800 to 1,000 a day."
Hamilton's three apartment tower outbreaks were cited by the doctors at the OMA briefing as showing the importance of opening outdoor spaces.
Infections increased to 109 at 235 Rebecca St. and to 32 at the Village at 151 Queen St. N. There are also 22 cases at Wellington Place at 125 Wellington St. N.
If we can make it easier for people to associate outside than they aren't feeling like they have to hide inside," said Wilson. I think that could go a long way to reducing these outbreaks."
Hamilton has 40 ongoing outbreaks including one new one declared Tuesday at metal fabricator Flamboro Technical Services in Millgrove where two staff tested positive.
The outbreak at Juravinski Hospital's F4 unit increased to 12 patients and three staff.
Outbreaks were declared over Wednesday at supportive housing Hatts Off Inc. on the east Mountain and restaurant Earth to Table Bread Bar on Locke Street.
The OMA and Juni hope the May long weekend will see a return to the outdoors - including small gatherings. But they emphasize public health measures still need to be in place because COVID can spread outside.
We are on the right track now and this is a combination of ... the current restrictions plus the vaccine rollout," said Juni. We can open outdoor space, we just need to have clear messaging."
He stressed, This is about risk reduction not risk elimination."
The best ways to stop the spread are to stay at least two metres apart from anyone you don't live with and wear a mask whenever distancing is difficult - even outside.
The doctors stress that when outdoors open up, group sizes need to stay low and contacts outside of the household should be limited.
Gatherings involving meals should see people from different households sit at separate tables with nothing shared.
Joanna Frketich is a Hamilton-based reporter covering health for The Spectator. Reach her via email: jfrketich@thespec.com